The scenario in which baked bread including mostly hot dog and hamburger buns are heated in a microwave oven before serving them to consumers is increasing in recent years in stores such as convenience stores, fast food shops, etc. Eating of purchased bread in a warm state at home after heating in a home microwave oven is also increasing. However, bread after heating in a microwave oven will harden rapidly (become hard to chew and hard to cut) and significantly deteriorate its texture. In recent years, high-power microwave ovens with a power of greater than 1000 W enabling rapid heating are used in convenience stores etc., and the deterioration in texture by heating in such microwave ovens is further accelerated at present.
With the above-mentioned background given, there is demand for easy-to-eat bread excellent in dissolution in the mouth, which suppresses hardening even after heating in a microwave oven, particularly in a high-power microwave oven. In conventional techniques, improvements in texture by compounding with fats and oils or with an emulsifier have been proposed (JP-A 63-287435 and JP-A 2-222639). There are also techniques of using a thickener in bread intended to be heated in microwave ovens; for example, a technique of using an alginate easter (JP-A 2002-281915), a technique of using a starch-pregelatinized product and water-holding dietary fiber (JP-A 4-36140), a technique of using edible fat and oil, an emulsifier and pregelatinized starch (JP-A 11-262356) and a technique of using an emulsifier, fat and oil, and albumen (JP-A 2-222639) have been proposed.